Trade Mistakes
by bookworm437341
Summary: The ease of a mission can make one cocky and cockienss can get you killed. Robin was no exception.He felt the sharp object shoot straight through him. His eyes widened as he glanced down slightly at the spearhead sticking out of his chest. The weapon was pulled from his new extremely fatal wound. "Access denied Bat brat." Sportsmaster growled in his ear.


**All characters belong to their respective companies.**

 **So, this is a bit different from what I've done in the past. It's structured backwards. There's a lot of time jumping simply because nothing was happening that could fill those spots. I will apologize now if it's a little confusing with the POV changes and how the timeline for the story is arranged.**

* * *

Wally swore every time he looked at the clock it was going backwards. The minutes were seemingly endless.

Of course his last class of the day was the longest and most boring. His teacher drawled on and on about the Shakespearean tragedy _Othello_ , and honestly Wally couldn't care less.

No sleep the previous night accompanied by a stressful mission and just the extremely boring day he'd been provided, Wally was shocked his head hadn't slipped from his hand and land on his desktop sooner.

The sound drew attention.

"Ah, I see West has something to add." His teacher announced, the annoyance laced in his voice.

"Uh, about?" He asked sheepishly.

His teacher sighed, slightly rolling his head for minor stress relief. "About Othello's decision to kill his wife."

Wally blinked.

"Can you recall how he came to this decision."

"Uh-"

"I didn't think so. Your time outside of class is your time. While I don't care what you do, I will care if it affects your work. Perhaps you need rethink your recreational activities. Can anyone tell me why Othello wants to kill Desdemona?"

"It was because of Iago. He made Othello believe his wife was being unfaithful with a good friend of his. Othello felt threatened and betrayed." Some girl answered who'd actually been paying attention.

He glanced at the clock again, five more minutes and he could head back to the cave. Five more minutes so he could go be stressed out somewhere else. Five more minutes and maybe he could take a nap at the cave. Of course those Five minutes consisted of foot tapping at inhuman speeds and trying to make time go faster by a sheer force of will.

The bell had never sounded as amazing as it did right then and there freeing him from English Literature trying to drown him with Shakespeare.

Artemis stood against the school gate, she didn't look like she'd gotten much sleep either.

"Hey, how'd you get here?" He asked her. "I mean I know how you got here and that you get out about an hour before I do but…"

"I skipped Economics. It's not like I really need it anyways" She provided no further context. She scanned the students filing out of the building. "You heard anything?"

Wally shook his head. "Batman isn't exactly one keep people in the loop about stuff like this."

She hummed softly. "Well Canary said she'd get some answers for us today so lets head back to the cave and see what she came up with."

"You get any sleep last night?"

"No. You?"

"No. I didn't get home until about two seconds before my alarm."

"No wonder you look awful."

He sent her a pointed look.

"Wally you look sick." She stopped walking.

"I'm fine."

"You say that but all signs point to everything but."

Wally resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm not in shock in anymore Artemis. I'm fine."

"You need to sleep. Shock drains the energy out of you like everyone else, as does running all the way from the cave to your house."

"The run helped."

"I'm sure but sleeping helps too."

Wally continued to walk forward. "I know. I'll get some sleep later."

She waited a couple of seconds before sparking a new conversation. "My calculus teacher said I'm in danger of failing."

"Seriously?"

"It's because of the amount of classes I've missed. I'm falling behind. He said I should consider a tutor."

"Are you going to take him up on his advice?"

"No. I don't need a tutor. Barbara's been helping me catch up anyways."

That name sounded familiar. "Barbara?"

"Just some girl in one of my classes. She's pretty cool."

Wally thought for a moment. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Because Barbara is pretty common name."

"No that's not why. How old is she."

Artemis thought for a moment. "Why do you care?"

"Because it's gonna drive me crazy if I don't figure it out."

"Like sixteen I think. She an advanced student. So it's like her and a handful of other kids that are taking higher level classes. Ring any bells?"

Dick was in classes like that. "A couple."

"What's going on in that head of yours. I can actually see the wheels turning."

"I think she's just a friend of a friend."

Artemis nodded. "Okay. Oh, here we are."

She gestured down to the disguised Zeta tube.

 _ **Recognized Artemis. B-07. Recognized Kid Flash. B-03.**_

The hall was deserted.

"C'mon they're probably just in the common area." Artemis notes.

She was right. The whole team was there. Zatanna, Raquel, and M'gann were crowded in the kitchen, with a counter separating M'gann from the rest of them, discussing something in hushed tones. Conner seemed to be having a staring contest with the far wall as he gripped the arms of the chair. Kaldur sat opposite of him almost falling asleep, which was an amusing site.

"About time." Zatanna comments, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Time zone differences make for different dismissal times." Wally sends back his tone matching hers.

"Fair enough."

"Now that they're here can you spill what Batman told you." Conner asked Kaldur.

Kaldur sat up slightly. He looked like what Wally felt like. "Batman told me that Robin will be fine. But he expressed concern about Sportsmaster."

Artemis stood a little straighter.

"I saw him at the warehouse last night. It is likely he is the one who attacked Robin."

"So we need to find him." Raquel comments, as she leans against the counter.

"We also need to figure out why he was there in the first place." M'gann adds.

"I can cast a locator spell to, you know, locate him." Zatanna offers.

Kaldur shook his head. "I think we should leave finding Sportsmaster to Batman. We should focus our attention to why he was there in the first place."

"He was probably just hired muscle or something." Wally states.

Artemis shook her head. "No. Not there. He was gathering intel. Intel for Shadows."

Conner scoffed. "As if we haven't had to deal with them enough. Why would Shadows need intel from a second rate drug and weapons exchange? And, if we're being honest, why did the League need it either?"

"Because that means it wasn't a second rate exchange." Artemis realizes.

"You mean it was a set up?" Raquel asked.

"That is what it's starting to sound like." Zatanna agrees.

"Yeah but for what?" Wally asks.

"That's what we're going to figure out. If we figure that out we know why Sportsmaster was there."

"What if this whole thing was just a ploy to try and separate Robin from us so they could take him out." Conner thinks out loud.

"Than it was a very excessive plan and was unsuccessful as he survived." Wally answers.

"It'd make sense as to why Sportsmaster was there." Artemis continues to run with that train of thought. "Robin can hold his own against people way stronger than him. If Shadows was going to try to take him out than they'd want someone who could out think him as well as overpower him. The only other person I can think of that could do something like that is Deathstroke."

"Yeah, but why Robin? If that is what we're going with." Zatanna asks.

Kaldur seems to mentally unpack everything they'd just discussed. "He's the only one who can make up for his lack of powers with pure ingenuity."

"He's a wild card. That's what makes him dangerous."

"And maybe it's also a way to get at Batman. You know take out his sidekick. Maybe distract him." Wally adds on.

"From what though?"

No one seemed to have an answer for that one.

"Artemis. You live in Gotham. Anything going on?" M'gann asks her.

She shakes her head. "No I don't think so. I mean there's always something going on in Gotham but, I don't know, it's nothing that I haven't heard before except…" She trailed off.

"Except… Except what?"

She shook her head again. "No I'm completely wrong. The Joker escaped recently but he's not orchestrating this. It's not his style. It was also too clean."

"Well from the sounds of it we have work to do." A new voice joined their ranks.

Wally turned to see who had entered the room. "Roy? What are you doing here?"

"Well when Robin wasn't answering any of my messages I got concerned and came back to check on things. Where is he?"

"I think he's still at the Watchtower." Artemis answers vaguely.

"Great. What happened?"

"He was stabbed by Sportsmaster." Wally tells him.

"What?"

"It's okay. We've been told he'll live."

"We've been trying to figure out why Sportsmaster was there in the first place." Zatanna provides more details. "You hear anything during your own search?"

Roy thinks it over. "No. Nothing that relates to this anyways. I was hoping Robin could help me find a new lead, but I guess not."

All Wally could think was that Robin could probably help Roy with some new leads. He could also figure out what Sportsmaster was doing on Santa Prisca.

* * *

 **POV Change**

Bruce could feel himself dozing off. His elbow slipped off the arm of the chair forcing him to sit up. It had been late nights for three weeks straight. Sitting in this room with nothing but the sounds of Dick's breathing he was beginning to feel it catch up to him.

A few hours ago he'd been waiting for the bio ship to arrive at the watchtower with his injured charge. He wanted answers but had quickly figured out that Dick was the only one who could supply those answers.

He glanced up. Dick's skin was still deathly pale from the blood loss. He'd been put on oxygen because of a collapsed lung. This was going to take him a little bit to bounce back from. His injuries didn't seem to extend past a severe puncture wound in his back and chest. Bruce assumed it was from a spear thrown with a lot of force and lucky aim. Likely Sportsmaster. It wouldn't have gone all the way through him if it had hit the kevlar. But it hadn't, it'd slipped in a groove.

All signs pointed to a full recovery. The team had found him in time that the amount of blood he'd lost was manageable and repairable. Now all that needed to happen was for him to wake up.

It was slightly concerning that he'd sustained an injury like this.

It suggested that whoever had done this had been extremely close to him. Robin wasn't that sloppy but it was clear that there were no defensive wounds. He hadn't fought back. Meaning someone had snuck up on him. That was the concerning part that Bruce needed an answer to.

"I know you're there Clark." Bruce called out breaking the silence he was enjoying.

Clark stepped into his peripheral. "How is he?"

"He'll live."

"Good. You look tired."

"It's been a long week."

"Only a week? You know I hear about things that happen in Gotham."

"I have it handled."

"Clearly."

"This has nothing to do with that."

"Are you sure."

"The Joker may be unpredictable but some things remain constant. Accompanied by the fact that their mission had nothing to do with that. It had something to do with a small weapons smuggler. I was thinking it might've had something to do with Shadows."

"And?"

"It does. Dick copied the files as he dismantled the security measures. Standard. He must've done it out of habit."

"His heartbeat is fast."

"He lost a lot of blood."

Bruce allowed a couple beats of silence between the two of them. "Do you need something?"

"No just checking in. I know how you get when things turn sour."

 _That's annoying_.

"I just want to make sure you're not gonna kill yourself over things you can't control. Like making sure you're not overworking yourself."

"I'm not."

"I've known you for a long time Bruce. I know better than to take your words at face value."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"It means you dismiss people. You shut down. I'm used to it so I've learned from it."

"Obviously not because you're still here."

He heard Clark sigh. "You could use some help."

"No."

"I didn't mean me."

Bruce turned to look at him.

Clark gestured towards Dick. "He can help you. He's one of the few people I've seen survive going up against you. I know you haven't been letting him out to help. I think that's stupid with the amount of training you've put that boy through. I'm pretty sure he can handle far more than I ever could."

"I know he hasn't been okay with being benched."

"You're gonna lose him if you keep this up. You know that right."

Bruce looked back over at Dick as he leaned back into the chair.

Something Bruce had known for a long time was that Dick would reach a point where he wouldn't tolerate codling anymore, he'd stopped allowing it from the Team and he'd just about reached his limit with Bruce. There were a lot of reasons Bruce wanted to keep him away from cases involving the Joker. Dick had gone toe to toe several times against some of his worst enemies but never alone, not since Two Face. Dick was becoming fiercely independent and refused to be pushed from cases. Bruce wasn't afraid to admit (to certain parties) the reasons he limited Dick to what he could actually do in Gotham were a majority of selfish reasons.

"You're saying if I'd let him help this might not have happened?"

"I'm saying if you'd let him help he wouldn't dig his heels in so much and a little yes."

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"The team wants an update."

"That's nice."

"You should update them."

"Why?"

"Well first of all the team has been pretty much _your_ thing. You've been incharge. You've deployed the missions, you've been the deciding factor as to who joins and who doesn't. Second of all they deserve an update. You're not the only one that would die for him."

Another thing Bruce had known for a long time. Dick made connections with people. Strong ones and likely unbreakable. He's done a lot for that team and vice versa.

"Are they still here in the Watchtower?"

"I think so."

"Have Canary send them home."

"Bruce-"

"I will have her give them an update tomorrow."

Clark sighed, loudly. "Fine."

Bruce had half a mind to simply fall asleep in this chair. But that wasn't going to happen. He needed something to keep him awake, he needed something to do.

He thought for a minute.

 _His holo computer._

Dick's uniform was still in the Watchtower, in this very room. Maybe it could provide the answers he was lacking.

* * *

Hours of digging and hacking through almost every single encrypted file (some of which he was still trying to work through) and there was nothing. Not a single thing, mission aside, from the copied data and the case file they'd all been given upon the assignment. Nothing that could help him.

Bruce glanced back up at Dick's unmoved body. He sighed putting the glove on a table next to him. The logical part of him couldn't understand why he was so upset. Dick was fine and was going to make a complete recovery. Like it never happened. The repressed emotional side of him had been working hard to break free. He didn't like seeing his partner so weak and vulnerable, and knew Dick shared his feelings of being viewed as such.

This whole situation was infuriating.

A knock at the door knocked him from the war going on in his head.

If there was ever a time to hate emotions now was taking the cake.

"What am I supposed to tell the Team?" Dinah asked as she rounded the bed to face him.

"That he'll be fine."

"They'll want to see him."

"And that Dick will decide when they can see him. Where are they."

"Most of them went about that normal business. Going to school and what not. Kaldur is the only one that's at the cave right now. He said he's willing to relay information to the team when they get back."

"Have him come to the Watchtower."

"Why?"

"He's team leader so I am going to talk to him myself and he can decide what to tell the team."

"Okay. Do you want him to come here or…"

"No, I'll wait for him by the Zeta Tubes."

"Is he really going to be okay?"

"Yes his injuries were severe but not extensive. He will make a full recovery. He's had worse anyways."

"I don't know whether to see that as a silver lining or as completely horrific."

"View it however you want." Bruce stood up. "Let's go."

* * *

When Aqualad stepped through the Zeta Tube Bruce could see how much this was bothering him.

Despite trying to remain neutral and ready for instruction he was doing a poor job of hiding how tired he was.

"Canary said you wished to see me."

"Yes, c'mon."

Confusion flickered across his face, but he wordlessly followed.

"What has Robin admitted to regarding his identity?"

Aqualad shook his head. "He has been very careful with what he admits to the team. The information I have been given is vague at best. Why?"

"Just curious."

"How is he?"

"Fine. I expect him to be and back to things within a month or two. Mostly because he doesn't listen. I need to know what happened. I'll be talking with Kid Flash later."

"Not M'gann or any of the other members."

"Miss Martian may be a good asset as well but the rest of the Team no. Your account of what happened will be enough. Be as detailed as possible."

"We arrived at the drop zone. Robin was instructed to go on ahead and disable the security measures. He went alone, we all assumed it would not be an issue. It is something he has done on his own several times before. We were unaware that Sportsmaster would be there."

"Sportsmaster?"

"Yes, we saw him leaving, but were otherwise preoccupied with Robin"

Batman nodded. "No that's fine. Priorities. They were not misplaced. You were concerned for your team member."

"When he failed to inform the team of the disabled security measures I sent Kid Flash and Miss Martian ahead to see if something was wrong."

Batman rolled the details around in his head. It was everything he assumed.

"Any idea why Sportsmaster was there?"

"It is possible this was supposed to be a set up of sorts. It is also possible that he was simply hired muscle to protect the cargo, or a spy. Honestly the reasons are endless."

Batman nodded at Aqualad's reasons. All of them made since. Something that did need to be looked into further. There was nothing in the intel to suggest that Sportsmaster was even supposed to be there.

"We'll need to look into why exactly he was there. It is cause for concern."

"Agreed. I will have the myself and the Team begin looking into it as soon as possible."

"Other that Sportsmaster was there anything else that could pose problematic."

He seemed to go over the details of his mission. "I'm not sure. By the time we got into the facility out priorities shifted to get Robin out of there alive."

It quickly became apparent Aqualad had something to ask him "What is it Kaldur'ahm?"

He blinked at the use of his name. "I'm still not understanding why you wished to know what I knew about Robin's identity."

Batman shrugged. "I figured he's gotten bullheaded enough that he's just told at least you his real name."

A smile almost broke the exterior. "No he has done many things against your better judgement but revealing his identity has yet to be one of them."

Bruce sucked in a breath. "Get some rest. You can update the team on whatever details you wish to tell him. They can't see him right now, but he should be back in a week or two. Not for missions but for recreation."

* * *

 **POV Change**

Wally was anxious. It'd been a while since the Team had been deployed on a mission. He was slightly disappointed at it being a simple recon mission, but action was action no matter how limited.

The whole trip to Santa Prisca lacked the usual tone. No one really wanted to do recon, least of all Robin. He hadn't said anything but he didn't exactly have to it was a little obvious that something was bothering him.

His usual enthusiasm was almost nonexistent which concerned Wally slightly. He seemed tired as he sat completely zoned out of the conversation. Wally made a mental note to figure out what was going on once the mission was over.

Kaldur began discussing mission details with everyone. Something Wally felt was a little unnecessary. It was recon. They knew the drill.

"There appears to be changes in Santa Prisca's security."

Robin suddenly takes interest in the conversation. "That fits. New suppliers would mean new security. Hang on, I'll check it out." He pulls up a holo map of the island showing the various changes made as his trademark smirk plays on his lips "This is easy stuff. I can it take out, but I need to be hooked up directly to the mainframe."

"Why?" Superboy asked him.

"They're not completely stupid."

"So it sounds like we need a plan to get inside." Artemis adds.

"Robin goes in ahead and slips through their defences, disables the security measures allowing us inside. Then we continue with our mission and report back to Batman."

"And we'll be home before ten." Kid Flash jokes.

Artemis shoots him an annoyed glance. "It's ten-thirty baywatch"

"You know what I mean."

"We are arriving." Miss Martian announces.

Robin drops down first. After a couple of seconds he sends the all clear signaling for the rest of the team to join him on the ground.

' _Remember Stealth Mode. We don't want any unwanted attention."_ Aqualad's tone left little room for negotiation.

It may been justified as the last few missions hadn't gone over that well.

They made their way to the main wearhouse, sticking close to the dark thick vegetation for cover. It felt kind of weird being back. Wally could feel nostalgia bubbling to the surface of his memories demanding to be felt.

Kid Flash was the first to reach the security perimeter and decided to do one final infrared check to make sure the plan would go smoothly. No surprise speed bumps to run into.

' _Bingo. Everything looks the way Rob said it would._ '

There's a couple second of silent exchange between Robin and Aqualad before Robin vanishes into the night to fulfill his part of their extremely boring mission.

Wally wasn't concerned. This mission was stupidly easy. Reeked of level one hero training.

Five minutes in Robin tells them to be ready to move. Wally gets in position completely ready to bust in at full speed so he can go home and speed through the mountain of english homework that has accumulated on his desk.

Only a minute passed of radio silence. Then two, three, five, seven, ten.

Around minute three Wally could feel his nervous energy threatening to boil over. Around minute five everyone else seemed to share his unease.

' _Maybe we should send someone in after him._ ' M'gann offered.

Wally watched Kaldur's shoulders slump down a fraction. An internal sigh.

' _Perhaps you and Kid Flash should go and see if anything is wrong._ '

Wally took off the moment the command was issued. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones.

' _Wally wait!_ '

The fact that M'gann called out to him with the mental link told him Dick had disabled all the security systems but for some slightly concerning reason he hadn't reported it with the comm.

He skidded to a halt. ' _We don't have time. Rob is probably in trouble. We need to find him._ '

' _I know, but we can't rush in blindly._ '

Wally groaned. ' _You're right. We need stealth._ '

She offered her hand.

He gave her a confused look as a response.

M'gann rolled her eyes. ' _To phase through the wall._ '

She pulled the two of them through the wall (totally weird feeling) and they scanned the immediate surroundings.

He gestured down the hall. ' _This way._ '

She went ahead of him as he combed through the space behind her.

Wally began to try and think of places Dick might hide out in to avoid capture. Those options were limited to air vents and the ceiling.

That's when something shot through the mental link. It felt like Black Canary had come right up to his ear and used her sonic scream. It was painful and disorienting. He stumbled up against the wall trying to regain his barings.

"M'gann?!" He called.

No response.

He ventured forward to catch up. She wasn't much further ahead of him, and the site made him stop dead in his tracks.

M'gann had both of her hands pressed against a very clearly fatal wound in Robin's chest. He felt the world come to a sudden halt.

The rest of the team rushed past him. Artemis appeared in front of his face, her eyes flickered back and forth analyzing him. It seemed like she was trying to talk to him but the ringing in his ears prevented him from understanding her. She framed his face with her hands.

"-ally" Her voice slowly got louder and more prominent.

He blinked as the world returned to a normal speed, or he returned to a normal speed. He wasn't sure.

Alarms were blaring around him.

"C'mon we need to go."

"R-right."

He zoned out, allowing himself to be drug around. To the bioship, and then to the Watchtower, and then into some sort of makeshift waiting room surrounded by the rest of the team.

Artemis laced her fingers with his, absently running her thumb against his knuckles. She bumped her shoulder against his. "Hey, it'll be okay."

Wally nodded leaving his facial expression unchanged.

She sighed as her eyebrows were knitted with concern. She was very clearly worried about him and the obvious mild shock he was experiencing.

The whole team seemed to just exist to take place in the universe. All of them sitting in silence, unmoving heavy silence.

The first break in the silence was after about a hour (he assumed as time suddenly felt irrelevant) by Zatanna.

"What happened?" She asked, reading the depressed tone of the room.

No one jumped to answer. Instead sending glances to one another seeing who they could persuade through pure eye contact to answer her question.

Kaldur sucked in a breath. "We are unsure. Robin was injured upon our arrival."

She bit her lip before sliding down into a seat to join in the thick silence herself.

The hours that lagged on seemed endless.

Wally was desperate for answers. He and M'gann had arrived on the scene after the fact. Someone like Robin with all of his experience didn't make fatal mistakes, and yet… it happened.

Maybe if he hadn't gone alone.

Of course he'd never given any sort of reason that he couldn't handle things like that. And why would he. This was Robin, who had been crime fighting for seven years. The most experienced member of the team and likely the most lethal if his skills were honed in that direction. This was something he'd done hundreds of times.

It all felt like some sick reminder that even the most experienced were prone to things like rookie mistakes.

Artemis seemed to be falling asleep against him still rubbing his knuckles; M'gann seemed to be attempting to see how deep she could physically burrow herself into her chair without phasing; Conner continuously shot worried glances between the doorway and M'gann; Kaldur went eirily still, he hadn't moved a single muscle for at least the last two or more hours his eyes locked on the doorway. Everyone seemed to just as numb as Wally felt.

The sound of approaching footsteps shook Wally out of his own mind. Everyone seemed to hold their breath waiting to see who was going to appear with possible information.

Black Canary stepped into view, her face read sollum.

She opened her mouth to speak before closing it again. She scanned the room.

"Listen, it's been a long night for all of you. Go home and try to get some sleep." She seemed to note the tone and changed the demands. "Or at the very least go back to the Cave and I will be there first thing in the morning to fill you in best I can."

"Do you know anything as of now?" Zatanna asked.

Canary shook her head as her gaze dropped to avoid their own. "I haven't been able to talk to anyone who would know anything." She hesitated before continuing. "I have a feeling that in this particular case. No news is good news. So he's probably going to be okay. So… go home."

The team exchanged multiple glances. No one seemed eager to leave.

Canary side stepped to reveal more of the doorway. "C'mon, everyone up and get some rest. You are all exhausted, don't try and deny it."

Slowly but surely everyone slowly made their way to the Zeta Tubes so they could essentially do the same thing in the common area of the cave in civies as opposed to their uniformes.

After another hour and a half Wally remembered it was Wednesday. They still had school they needed to attend. He glanced over at the clock. It had been at least seven hours.

Wally let out a breathy sigh

"What." Artemis asked him as she sat up slightly.

"I need to go."

"Why?"

"School. I've missed too much. If I miss anymore it's gonna lead to truancy which I do not have time for."

Artemis suddenly seemed to share his thought. She glanced over at the clock. "Shit, you're right."

"You're in danger of truancy?" Zatanna asked.

"Happens when you're a hero who gets injured or sleeps though a good portion of class because of too many late nights." Artemis explains as she stands up getting ready to make her leave.

"Artemis is right." Kaldur suddenly spoke. "We must continue as if everything is normal which includes attending classes regularly."

Wally walked back towards the tubes.

"You gonna Zeta back?" Artemis stepped in front of him to gain his full attention.

He shook his head. "I'm gonna run back. I need to clear my head. I think heading back on foot will help."

She nodded. "Text me during your off period."

"I will."

He sped home just in time to hit the snooze on his alarm clock. Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **POV Change**

Dick felt exhausted. Not physically. It'd been a while since he'd been exhausted like this for a physical reason. No, this was a mental exhaustion that he absolutely despised.

Things had been frustrating at home recently. He'd been benched. Dick hadn't even done anything to warrant being benched. The only reason Bruce had benched him was simply because the Joker had escaped from Arkham (again), and Dick suspected that Bruce wanted to keep him as far away from it as humanly possible.

It had prompted a few fights. Seven years of crime fighting and for some reason it felt like Bruce still saw him as the nine year old he'd found sneaking out to catch his parents killer.

The most recent mission Batman had sent the Team on only felt like further proof of that. It was complete overkill for a simple recon mission that he could've sent two or three team members on instead of the six most experience ones.

Robin slouched slightly in his seat on the Bioship. In his peripheral he could see Kaldur double check the specs on Santa Prisca looking for notable changes.

"There appears to be changes in Santa Prisca's security."

"That fits." Robin tells them, "New suppliers would mean new security. Hang on, I'll check it out." He pulls up a holo map of the island showing the various changes made. "This is easy stuff. I can take it out, but I need to be hooked up directly to the mainframe."

"Why?" Superboy asked him.

"They're not completely stupid."

"So it sounds like we need a plan to get inside." Artemis adds.

"Robin goes in ahead and slips through their defences, disables the security measures allowing us inside. Then we continue with our mission and report back to Batman."

"And we'll be home before ten." Kid Flash jokes.

Artemis gives him a strange look. "It's ten-thirty baywatch"

"You know what I mean."

"We are arriving." Miss Martian announces.

Robin dropped down first. Giving a quick scan to his surroundings to make sure it was safe.

' _Clear._ '

The rest of the Team joined him on the ground level.

' _Remember Stealth Mode. We don't want any unwanted attention."_ Aqualad's tone was short with the command.

There may have been a few hiccups in the last couple of recent missions (which neither Aqualad nor Robin had been part of due to Kaldur being needed in Atlantis at the same time Dick had been stuck in Gotham) where it became punch first and ask questions later as opposed to whatever the original mission objective had been.

Clearly Aqualad wasn't going to be taking any chances and was going to be yanking on some leashes tonight. Oh joy, what fun that was going to be.

They made their way to the main wearhouse where the deal was supposedly taking place. At least that's what the intel suggested. Nostalgia was in the air. This was, after all, where Kaldur had been established as Team leader. The elder had been making some subtle attempts to pass the mantle to Robin as of late believing he was ready for the weight that came with it.

It wasn't like Dick didn't think he couldn't handle it, it was more the responsibility that came with it. He wasn't unaware of some of the things Bruce considered when he took Dick in. It had never been talked about (and Dick thought he'd been clear as to where he stood on that topic) but he knew he was being groomed to be a replacement of sorts either when Bruce stepped down from being Batman or was forced to. And it wasn't just to become Batman. It would be a replacement for everything. Which included taking charge with the company.

Becoming team leader only made it harder to fight against it. He could and was willing to lead when necessary, but he didn't want to be the main leader that everyone would look to. Besides it suited Kaldur and he was good at it.

Kid Flash got to the outer perimeter of the compound first. He switched to infrared and gave the area one final scan.

' _Bingo. Everything looks the way Rob said it would._ '

Robin turns slightly, waiting to see Aqualad's go ahead.

A slight head nod and he's off.

He makes his way, maneuvering past security, to break into the facility. The ease of it should've put his guard on high alert instead of doing the exact opposite.

Nothing had changed in the last few years. He worked his way through the warehouse looking for access to the main system.

He ran across a small console off to the side. Exactly what he was looking for, but it provided no cover and left him completely exposed.

He bit his tongue as he sighed internally. He really should look for something better than this. Every instinct that had been honed as a hero told him to look for something better. There was bound to be one. Instead he went the extremely dangerous and stupid route.

 _Better make this quick._

He glanced around, checking the coast before risking his neck unnecessarily.

So far so good.

Just as he suspected he had no trouble checking through the security protocols in place. The system wasn't anything revolutionary. It was something he could've broken into when he was nine.

Hindsite was always twenty-twenty, right? There were so many things he should've done in contrast to what he actually did. The ease of the mission allowed the mistakes to slip through. His exhaustion certainly didn't help things either.

Despite knowing full well he was completely exposed with no one watching his back. He kept his guard down and let someone sneak up on him.

The ease of a mission can make one cocky and cockienss can get you killed. Robin was no exception.

He opened up a channel. "Almost done be ready."

Just as the last of the security measures had been disabled allowing the team inside everything went south.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The press of something against his back right in between the kevlar plating under the uniform, the hand that wrapped itself around his mouth to keep him from calling out for help as the object pressed harder, and the feeling of someone leaning in close to his ear.

He felt the sharp object shoot straight through him. His eyes widened as he glanced down slightly at the spearhead sticking out of his chest. The weapon was pulled from his new extremely fatal wound.

"Access denied Bat brat." Sportsmaster growled in his ear.

* * *

 **So yeah. Again I'm sorry if you had trouble following the sequence of what was going on, I tried to make it as clear as possible. I wrote it like this as like a new challenge because this format isn't used very often (and I understand why, this was hard) but I did enjoy writing it 'backwards' for lack of a better term.**


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